Good Grief! Arkansas Atheists Upset over ‘A Charlie Brown Christmas’

Arkansas Atheists are upset that a local elementary school plans to send second graders on a field trip to see a stage production of “A Charlie Brown Christmas” at a church.

Anne Orsi, Vice President of the Arkansas Society of Freethinkers, an atheist organization, told KARK said a parent complained to the group about the event because the play had “religious content” and was being performed at a church.

“We’re not saying anything bad about Charlie Brown,” Orsi said. “The problem is that it’s got religious content and it’s being performed in a religious venue and that doesn’t just blur the line between church and state, it over steps it entirely.”

The parent who filed the complaint said in a statement she would let her daughter attend the play so that she does not get singled out. The event is scheduled to occur on Friday Dec. 14, and children will need to pay $2 to attend to cover part of the expenses.

According to KARK, church staffers said they “have held holiday productions for students in the past and no one raised concerns about those shows” and a spokeswoman for the Little Rock School District said the district does not endorse any particular faith or encourage any specific religious activity.

“A Charlie Brown Christmas” is an uplifting classic in which one of the characters, Linus, quotes from the Gospel of Luke from the King James version of the Bible to remind Charlie Brown what “Christmas is all about.”